An ongoing series of articles on songs & performances of the early Grateful Dead.

January 8, 2010

The Dead's Early Thematic Jams

This is a short guide to the various themed jams the Dead did in their early years. I've listed a lot of them here & there before, so some of these are repeated from previous posts. But I thought it might be useful as a handy reference for others, to have all the early jams gathered together in a brief introduction.Note that this guide stops at 1974. There's also a good overview of many of these jams in the first Taping Compendium.

In no particular order....

FEELIN' GROOVY JAM

The Feelin' Groovy jam is basically four chords based on the Simon & Garfunkel song, and was frequently done in Dark Stars from '69-'72. This first appeared in Dark Star in late '69 - in '73 it migrated into the middle of China>Rider, with a rather different feel and an extra 'bridge' section added. (A lot of people also call it the "Uncle John's Jam" since the four chords are very similar.)This is one of the only jams where we have a recording from the Dead's home rehearsals, a long standalone version from the fall of '69 - alongside an extended exploration of the Uncle John's jam, and a cool early Friend of the Devil. Despite poor, distorted sound, this is one demo I can't recommend highly enough:http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-06-xx.aud.tzuriel.10510.sbeok.shnfThe first Feelin' Groovy jam appears in the 9/26/69 Dark Star, around the 11-minute mark, unfortunately hard to appreciate due to the sound quality:http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-09-26.aud.hanno.14856.sbeok.shnfSince it's an audience tape, most people probably haven't heard it - but this one from the Dark Star a month later is well-known:http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-10-25.sbd.jagla.81.sbefail.shnf- and just a week after that it had one of its best performances:http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-02.sbd.goodbear.1125.sbefail.shnfFeelin' Groovy appeared in many Dark Stars thereafter, too many to cite - almost every one up through 1970. Some of the best-loved versions might include 1/2/70, 2/13/70, 5/15/70, 9/19/70, 10/21/71, 4/14/72, and 5/25/72. From the end of '69 and through '70, Dark Star had a particular format: after the first verse the band would evaporate into space, explore weirdness for a while, then slowly return back to melody - and here the Feelin' Groovy jam (or sometimes the Tighten Up jam) would emerge, like bright joy after the darkness. (Sometimes though, they mixed things up or weren't in the mood, and you sometimes catch Garcia refusing to enter a Feelin' Groovy jam even when Lesh is trying to drop one in.) Over time the Stars changed, and became more dense and complex - particularly after Keith joined, the '72 Stars got jazzier with more jamming elements and meltdowns, and the Feelin' Groovy jam often became more brief and fleeting - sometimes just a hint from Phil.Late '72 saw the end of its stay in Dark Star - one instance is 10/18/72, a classic version at the end of the Star, after the Philo Stomp:http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-18.sbd.weir.7295.sbeok.shnfBy contrast, from 11/13/72 we have an extremely fast version in a Star filled with intense meltdowns:http://www.archive.org/details/gd1972-11-13.aud.cotsman.7518.sbefail.shnfThe last time I recall Feelin' Groovy being played in a Dark Star is 11/26/72, a great version that should be known by more people - the end of the Star has a bass solo>Feelin' Groovy>Tiger meltdown - Garcia's tone in the Feelin' Groovy is just amazing:http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-11-26.sbd.cotsman.9248.sbeok.shnfA couple times the Feelin' Groovy jam would appear 'solo': on 10/2/72, in the post-Truckin' jam it's one of the themes after Nobody's Fault But Mine and is played very loosely, leading up to Morning Dew:http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-02.sbd.lai.158.sbefail.shnfAnd on 2/24/73 it's part of the jam coming out of Eyes of the World (unfortunately the more complete audience tape isn't on the Archive), and follows a long bass solo - Garcia initiates it and they play it very sweetly:http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-02-24.sbd.elliot.11929.sbeok.shnfThe first time Feelin' Groovy entered the China>Rider transition was on 3/16/73; and there it would stay over the next two years, with many exciting versions as it became increasingly jammed-out - a couple examples would be the Dick's Picks of 6/26/74 and 8/5/74. One unique variation happens in the 3/31/73 show - after toying with the Spanish Jam in the Other One, out of the Other One space they suddenly shift into Feelin' Groovy, and from there head naturally into Rider without bothering with the China Cat:http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-03-31.sbd.yerys.2237.sbeok.shnfAfter 1974, Feelin' Groovy mysteriously disappeared.

The Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy jams have often been confused, even by Latvala who should have known better! There were Dark Stars where they did both of these jams, but the 1970 Dancings generally have Tighten Up jams, not Feelin' Groovy jams. The easy way to check: is Weir repeating two chords or four chords?Sometimes the two themes are done back-to-back. Check out the Dark Stars from 11-2-69 or 1-2-70, which have the same structure after the first verse: - a space, weird & wild, - then the Feelin' Groovy jam, almost sounding more fully developed than it was in later years with different variations, and when that dies down, - the Tighten Up jam, again done fully & at length; when this is done it's time for the second verse.http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-02.sbd.goodbear.1125.sbefail.shnfhttp://www.archive.org/details/gd70-01-02.partial-early.sbd.86.sbefail.shnf

MIND LEFT BODY JAM

The Mind Left Body jam originated in the PERRO sessions, where we can hear an early, faster version of the four descending chords. Paul Kantner took this riff for his song "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", which Garcia played pedal steel on. Garcia in turn adapted it into a Grateful Dead theme, which first showed up on occasion in '72, but started regularly entering the jams in fall '73. It added a transcendental feeling to many shows up through '74 - these are some of the most notable jams:4-8-72 Dark Star9-21-72 Dark Star10-19-73 Dark Star10-30-73 Dark Star11-11-73 Dark Star12-2-73 Playing5-19-74 Truckin' jam6-28-74 WRS jam7-31-74 Truckin' jam10-17-74 Other OneIn '75 the MLB theme was turned into a section in Weir's Music Never Stopped; but in later years it made some infrequent appearances in unexpected places.Sometimes the MLB jam is mistaken for Feelin' Groovy - on Dicks Pick 12, Latvala even called the China>Rider transition the 'Mud Love Buddy' jam, which is misleading. The segue jam in the '73/74 China>Riders is definitely Feelin' Groovy, not MLB - Latvala just messed that up. (For instance, on DP12 the jam from 6/28 IS the MLB jam, but doesn't get named!)I go into much more detail in the Mind Left Body post -http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2009/08/mind-left-body-jam.html

SPANISH JAMWeir based the Spanish Jam on the song "Solea" on Miles Davis' album Sketches of Spain, sometime in late '67 when the Dead started recording Anthem of the Sun. As it was, a little bit of the Spanish Jam actually got on the album, in the form of a short Davis-flavored trumpet break from Phil in the middle of Born Cross-Eyed (after the verse, "Think I'll come back here again, every now and then, from time to time"). For a moment, it seems like Garcia and the band are about to break into the Spanish Jam, but they quickly cut back to the song....In any case, the Spanish Jam debuted on the Anthem tour of early '68 and was played regularly - but, was soon dropped from the setlists (along with Born Cross-Eyed). Weir kept it in mind though, and it made a surprise reappearance at the 2-11-70 allstar-jam show, out of Dark Star. It then disappeared for three more years - was revived for two shows in March '73 (tied with Dark Star again on 3-24-73) - was dropped again - and, once again, emerged from nowhere in another Dark Star jam on 6-23-74. Finally the Dead felt ready for it, and played it frequently through the rest of '74. However, aside from one show in '76, the Spanish Jam remained unheard for several years after the hiatus, until another revival on 5-6-81. After that, it appeared now and then, from time to time in shows up to the end in '95, making it one of the longest-lasting Dead jams.Here is an older post with a brief history of the Spanish Jam:http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=114745And here are some more examples of notable early Spanish Jams not linked in the post:http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-17.sbd.cotsman.11795.shnf - the firsthttp://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-02-11.late-set2.aud.smith.99152.sbeok.flac16http://www.archive.org/details/gd1974-07-19.sbd.gans-finney.217.sbeok.shnfhttp://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-16.set1aud-set2sbd.miller.23569.sbeok.shnf

MOUNTAIN JAMGarcia was quoting Donovan's "There Is A Mountain" months before the Allman Brothers were formed, most often playing it for a bar or two in Alligator jams. I think the earliest instance is in the 9-3-67 Alligator; and you can hear it at 9:00 in the Alligator on the Anthem album, or briefly at 12:00 in the 2-14-68 Alligator. Melodically it sounds similar to the Bid You Goodnight riff, so it's interesting that both of these pieces were born in the Alligator jam - there are many early Alligators where Garcia seems constantly just about to play one of these.....It's tricky finding good links for it though, since he always plays it as just a brief tease, and there's little point in directing you to long Alligators just to find a few seconds of a melody. But one place where it has its own track is 11-6-70 after Goin' Down the Road:http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-06.aud.warner.17183.sbeok.shnfA couple other places where Garcia is playing, not necessarily the exact riff, but an extended jam in the Mountain Jam style, include the 6-4-70 Midnight Hour -http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-04.sbd.miller.12135.sbeok.shnf- and six minutes into this expansive Not Fade Away, which in this poor AUD recording sounds like a distorted wah-wah rendition!http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-07-11.aud.cotsman.9379.sbefail.shnf

CAUTION JAMCaution started out in '65 as an imitation of Them's "Mystic Eyes". It had been a regular jam-piece in Pigpen's days, usually following Alligator, but sometimes as an instrumental theme inside Viola Lee jams. (I talk more about it in my Viola Lee post.)By the time Pigpen left in '72, the Dead had developed it enough so that they could have kept it as a jam theme even without him; but they decided not to. Somehow a couple Caution jams still slipped into the end of '74, very loose and jazzy:9-18-74 (out of Truckin') -http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-09-18.sbd.miller.20732.sbeok.shnf10-19-74 (out of He's Gone, into Truckin') - on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack.In later years, Caution would be very rare indeed, but sometimes it would burst out of a He's Gone jam - on 10/27/79, 5/12/80, and 5/6/81.

'73 and '74 saw the jams opening up in all directions. There are a number of gnarly riffs that get repeated from show to show (particularly by Phil), but without names or identities they're hard to pin down. The repeating-riff jam at the end of Eyes in these years is very similar to Stronger Than Dirt, and often gets called that, but I think it's a distinct piece. Stronger Than Dirt may have evolved from it, though - check out the Eyes>Dirt from 8-13-75 (One From The Vault) to hear the difference from the '73/74 jam.[Stronger Than Dirt, confusingly, is also known as King Solomon's Marbles or Milkin' the Turkey. Most of these jams were not named by the band - here they gave one too many names!]

ONE-TIME JAMSThere may well be other distinct jams that they didn't do enough times for us to identify - the Alllmans-like Jam in the Other One of 7/25/72 is a great example, which sounds so composed it's hard to believe they only did it once - also the "Beautiful Jam", done only during the 2/18/71 Dark Star, which is quite unique, almost a song in itself. (I don't think it's closely related to the Tighten Up jam, though others hear it that way.)Also check out the portion of 3-22-72 that was released on a bonus disc: in the jam at the end of Caution, there's a quiet part where the Dead play a mysterious instrumental theme that sounds like a lovely, unusual cross between Bobby McGee and Bid You Goodnight, but is definitely an unknown tune.....one of those haunting moments.

And finally, here is a listing of other various one-time-only jams the Dead played over the years, not related to their usual pieces.This isn't the place to cover the big '74 jams out of Truckin' or Let It Grow, or the instrumental-only versions of Dark Star or the Other One, or the odd instrumental cover like Hideaway or various tuning riffs; and I've decided to skip the occasional soundcheck jams (though they can be interesting).I also decided to leave out the Seastones '74 sets and Hartbeats '68 shows, since those were covered in this post:http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2009/08/crowded-dead-stage-1967-1975.html

Hi there. I see this was posted a while ago but I have a question. There is a thematic jam I don't know the name of. It is in the 4-26-72 Other One. I know I have heard it other places but not sure where. Any clue what I'm talking about? I dont think you have it listed above. Thanks,Alex

What point in the Other One are you referring to? There's a little Phil theme after 18:30 that was a Clementine bass line in '68. Otherwise, I don't recall any specific themed jams in that Other One, though a lot of it of course is similar to the other Europe '72 jams.

A correction for the Main Ten - The '6/19/68' show is now known to be 2/19/69, so that's now our first known date for the Main Ten. I have to think, if it had been composed earlier, it would have shown up in one of the '68 Hartbeats shows, so perhaps this riff started much later than I thought.

There's a particular jazzy Phil riff that he pushes a lot around '73 - a good example is early in the Dark Star on 6/24/73. I haven't attempted to find all the different renditions. Sometimes it dies quickly, sometimes Weir joins in with a counterpoint, sometimes (as here) the whole band plays with it... I can't place whether it's an original riff or a jazz quote. But it's almost like an early version of the Stronger Than Dirt riff.

I'm very tempted to believe that the 6/19/68 show (2/19/69) was recorded much later than February 69. The show starts with a Lovelight>Not Fade Away>Lovelight sandwhich. However, the band did not start playing NFA until 12/69. In addition, they didn't start combining NFA with Lovelight until around 3/70. Perhaps this was one of those mysterious "early shows" that they were doing in 1970? Early 1970 of course.

Listening to it now, it does sound, at the very least, un-Feb-69-like. Jerry's tone on this recording sounds nothing like the live/dead era Jerry. Also, (I'm only on the 2nd lovelight right now, its been a while) as of yet, I hear no Tom Constanten. Also, The way the Dead play here sounds so comfortable. It sounds like they're playing in a small venue with all of their friends. The crowd chanting (in lovelight), as well as the way dead are completely fearless in their playing (the jamming in the end of lovelight, going into NFA sounds like they're just having fun) and they are having fun by the sounds of it. On a wild guess I might even say that perhaps the Pranksters were a part of this show. What do you think?

(sorry in advance for the flood of writing) There is some organ an the end of lovelight. But it does sound more like pigpen than Tom. And it's probly Pigpen because You don't hear it until the end, until after Pig came back to the mic (and probably onstage- judging by the "Hey Pigpen, where are you? Get the fuck over here!" comment that was made earlier in the song.

Interesting, thoughtful comments - but, after writing a whole post on this show, I'm still convinced that it's 2/19/69: http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2011/01/mystery-of-61968.html

I think the style is a lot closer to early '69 than to early '70; it really doesn't sound like 1970 at all to me (especially the NFA). They almost did NFA on 4/23/69, but stopped because they were out of tune or something, so it's not improbable for them to try it in Feb '69. (For that matter, the Main Ten starts showing up in Dead shows in April '69 too.)And you're right about it being a comfortable venue for the Dead, as it was in the Carousel. I think my post explains the looseness & Pranksterish chanting. There are various mixing problems on the tape, so the organ is not really audible til the second-set jams. I don't know who's playing, it's not necessarily TC or Pigpen.

People listening to a couple of the '69 jams have noticed its resemblance to the Chicago song Beginnings. You can compare Weir's chords to the intro of Beginnings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S-Z4Vh1ieA or to Tighten Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wro3bqi4Eb8

I'm on the fence, as there are resemblances to both (it's a very similar pattern), but the Tighten Up jam may actually be the Beginnings jam!

No,I don't think the band members have ever been asked. Not that they might remember too much anyway. There's one '80s interview where Mickey Hart is asked about the Spanish Jam, and reminded that it drew on a Sketches From Spain piece: "God! Those things just come out! Those are really not planned. That really comes out when we are jamming. I forgot even where that came from! I didn't even think about that, but you're right, that's where it did come from... I knew I recognized it from someplace!" (from Swing 51 #7, 1983, Garcia article)

Well, people's definitions may differ; I think of it as another name for the Tiger Jam - which wasn't a thematic jam, just a term for the band's scary meltdowns when Garcia's screeching on wah-wah & Lesh is scraping his strings & everyone's making alarming noises; very common in '72-74. Other people think of it as a name for the Phil/Ned interlude in '74, but I suppose any atonal space could get tagged with the name.

Now that you mention it, I wonder how the name "insect fear" originated. The first time I've seen it used was on Mickey Hart's 1972 album Rolling Thunder, where Garcia was credited with "insect fear" on the 'Pump Song.' (Mickey later also recorded a radio play called "The Bugs" about an insect invasion, which included music from the 11/28/73 experimental performance.)https://archive.org/details/gd82-01-01.sbd.hanno.19808.sbeok.shnf How & when that term started being used for the Dead's spaces, I'm not sure.

Great article. I wanted to point out that the "Mind Left Body" jam made a reappearance in "The Music Never Stopped" circa summer 1990 and may have become a permanent part of the song after that (I heard it at 7-12-90 and 9-25-91).

Hmm, I don't really hear it too clearly in those versions. It had always formed the bedrock for the bridge chords ("There's a band out on the highway"), and there are some versions from '76 where they really do a mini-MLBJ in the Music Never Stopped jams.

Don't know if you're following 30 Days of Dead over at dead.net, but yesterday's selections was the Feelin' Groovy Jam -> Sugar Magnolia from 2/24/73 (more is in the vault than circulates, apparently). You mention above that there's an AUD tape from the show, and deadlists.com notes 60min. of AUD tape containing the Truckin' through Sugar Mags portion. But as far as I can tell, that audience tape doesn't circulate on the web (on Archive or elsewhere). Have you heard it? If so, do you have any idea how we could get it into circulation?

I also talked a bit about this show in my post on incomplete shows from Feb '73. The second-set SBD snippet on the Archive is mislabeled as being Truckin'>Nobody's Fault (deadlists repeats the error, for some reason) but it's actually the post-Eyes jam.The Sugar Magnolia in the Vault snippet isn't on the Archive copy (which cuts off just at that point), but unfortunately a big chunk of the second set is missing from the Vault - Lemieux wrote: "Unfortunately, reel #5 is missing from the vault, but what’s on reel #6 is certainly worth hearing: Jam>Bass Solo>Jam>Sugar Magnolia. Too bad the 46 minutes that precedes this jam is missing, but at least this excellent jam remains."

The AUD was reviewed in the Taping Compendium, but I've never heard it. My guess is the quality is pretty poor and very few people (outside of the top collectors) have it, or else it would've made it to digital by now. (Lots of AUDs mentioned in the Compendium or deadlists have similarly disappeared.) A mention of it in the Lossless Legs forum brought no response. So, unless someone who has the show gets reminded about it & has the desire to transfer it to digital, we're out of luck. But the situation isn't hopeless - I heard recently that someone's planning to transfer a complete AUD of 2/15/73 to digital, and I just worked to bring an alternate AUD of 7/12/70 to light too; so these things do keep trickling out.

The Dark Star played on 12/18/73 contains a 'Mind Left Body Jam' that should be added to the list. Commencing at the 8:0l mark, and spanning to the 9:27 mark, this version is less defined than some of its contemporaries; however, the lush, subtleness of this one is no less charming. While it's not as fully realized and definitive as the epic 6/28/74 version (the yardstick by which all others should be judged), it nevertheless deserves its rightful place in the MLB canon.

I didn't think that was one of the standout Mind Left Body jams; at any rate, I just listed the most notable versions here, but there's a more complete listing in my Mind Left Body post, and 12/18/73 does get covered!

I'm listening to the 10-25-1969 Winterland Dark Star. Does this Dark Star not also contain a brief Feelin' Groovy Jam into a Tighten Up Jam? This would make a total of 3 Dark Star's containing a Feelin' Groovy and Tighten Up Jam. I admit that the 11-02-1969 and 01-02-1970 versions are much more developed.

Actually, I did not try to track how many Dark Stars had both Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy jams, but it is certainly more than those three. Offhand I would say most of the 1970 Dark Star Tighten Ups are also accompanied by a Feelin' Groovy jam, though not necessarily back-to-back like in these early versions.

"You're all i need to get by" is a progression involving A, B7, Dm6 and back to A. All these chords include an A note, and they involve a descending pattern of E,Eflat,D and C#. For MLB, the chord progression which i've found to best work in all keys (it was played in A, D and E) is A7, D/E, Dm/E, A. All the chords share an E note, and there is a descending pattern of G, F#, F and E. So, indeed, similarities. I got the chords for YAINTGB from Motown Showstoppers.

There is a jam which was called "Epilogue" on Europe '72, came in the wake of Truckin' and ahead of the Other One. It often popped up in Dark Stars of the era, notably 8/24/72 (excellent version of both the jam and DS, underrated and overlooked due to the version of three days later) and the 2/26/73 Dark Star (DP 28), likewise great versions of both. Has it ever attained a name of its own other than "Epilogue"?

Some early 1970 Dark Stars feature another two chord pattern by Weir (A7 - G7), for instance 2/2/70 starting around 12:00. I believe some mistake this for Tighten Up and it does sound like a more aggressive variation on Tighten Up. Not sure if it occured often enough to deserve its own name.

I think that pattern's too scanty to single out as its own jam (and not sure how much it occurs outside of early '70), but Dark Star did have some other recognizable themed signposts from time to time - like the "sputnik jams" so common in '69, or Phil's 6/8 riff that keeps popping up in '73 (for instance, around 6:30 in the 6/24/73 Dark Star).

One reader wrote a post on Phil's jazzy 6/8 riff that pops up so often in 1973 shows - giving it the title of the "Elastic Ping Pong Jam." Well worth reading: http://listeningnotes.tumblr.com/post/81220260170/the-deads-elastic-ping-pong-jam-during-dark

Some further comment on it here: http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2014/03/1972-melodic-jams.html?showComment=1396285047193#c5544692000593140465

Early, undeveloped versions of it show up in late '72, for instance in the 11/19/72 Dark Star; but here's a partial list of where it shows up in '73: 12/31/72, start of the Other One2/26/73 Dark Star (starts about 10-11m in)2/28/73 Other One (around 4:40) 6/24/73 Dark Star (after 6:20)6/29/73 Other One (around 3:25)9/11/73 Dark Star (about 10-11m in)10/30/73 Dark Star (at 6:20) I'm sure more examples can be found. As far as I know, it dies away in late '73.

Phil plays this line extensively in the 11/17/72 Other One, starting about 9 minutes in and continuing it on & off for a couple minutes - then he keeps repeating it occasionally in the rest of the jam.

Phil's bass solo in the 6/10/73 Dark Star is based on the "Philo Stomp" (which got deconstructed a bit in '73 and played in more fragmentary fashion), but the jam after the bass solo, when the guitars return, starts with the "elastic ping pong" riff.

The elastic ping pong jam is very cool. The writer of that blog suggests that this jam served as the basis for Stronger than Dirt/King Solomon's Marbles, and that may well be. Dirt/Marbles is in 7, however, so some further evolution would have had to occur. But, both the ping pong jam and Dirt/Marbles are in B minor. Further, the ping pong jam does remind me very much of the jam they did on 3/23/75.

Also, the genesis of this jam may have begun as early as April 11, 1972 in Newcastle. Listen to Truckin' at 15:37-16:05. Phil quotes the bass line to Wayne Shorter's Footprints quite clearly (in D minor). Footprints is in 3, so it's not much of a stretch to work that into the ping pong type of jam. Some of Phil's opening licks during the 6/24/73 ping pong jam have a clear relationship to the Footprints bass line.In any case, great stuff.

Some people have suggested before that this jam might have been based on Footprints - http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2014/03/1972-melodic-jams.html?showComment=1396456870700#c7656979006344262573

I am not so sure - Phil had a lot of related bass-lines going on in '72-75, making it hard to say whether one theme turned into another over time, or if they're distinct but just sound similar.... But over time, listeners will probably turn up more to study in this family group of Phil's jazzy riffs.